


To Be

by Dw2h



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Canon Divergence, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Jazz sam and tucker mentioned, Yearning, jack and maddie implied
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:13:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28520697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dw2h/pseuds/Dw2h
Summary: Danny tells his parents, it didn’t go quite how he thought it would.
Kudos: 48





	To Be

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick, mostly projecting drabble. I’m sure you can guess what happened in my life lmao.

It had been nearly four years since the accident that had ~~killed him~~ re-written his DNA into something… more than human. 

_ Less than human _ , something muttered at the back of his mind, sounding uncomfortably like his parents. 

It had been nearly a week since he had told them.

No.

He hadn’t even the courage to do that himself, despite being able to stare down literal monsters on a daily basis. Instead, he let Jazz do most of the talking, while he hid around the corner, trying not to puke.

It was probably sheer willpower that kept the bile down when Jazz called him back into the other room. It had to have been, because it certainly wasn't relief he was feeling. 

His parents looked… not disgusted. Confused maybe. Disbelieving? Disappointed? That last one hurt the most (he knew it was the truth.)

So now, a week later, he stared up at the plastic facsimile of the constellation Perseus on his ceiling, feeling a whole lot of  _ something _ that he didn't want to admit was regret. This was right, it wasn't fair to his parents to keep pretending he wasn't a ghost. It wasn't fair to his friends and sister to keep having to cover for him. ~~It wasn’t fair to him to have to keep such an important part of him hidden away.~~

_ Why regret, though? _ Danny thought to himself, gaze flickering over to Monoceros. In the dimming light of his room, the plastic stars were beginning to glow. He knew the answer, quashed down near his solar plexus, where bad feelings tended to chase each other around. If it wasn’t the disappointment, it was the slip-ups, if it wasn’t the slip-ups, it was the uncomfortable questions. 

_ What makes you feel like a ghost? _

_ Why didn’t you say anything four years ago? _

_ I just don’t see what difference this makes, you’re still  _ **_human_ ** _ , right? _

Oops, there was that clenching pain near his ribs again. That sticky feeling that  _ wasn’t _ regret and  _ didn’t _ make him feel like he was letting everyone around him down. That feeling that bubbled up like tar every time he used his ghost powers for his own convenience in front of his parents and caught that look in their eyes. He always stopped before their questions could start again.

Sam had offered a space in her home, if he were to be outright rejected. She said that even her busybody parents couldn’t be everywhere in the house. Tucker had offered similarly, but as nice as his parents were, even they would question why he was “spending the night” so often. Danny allowed his hand to obstruct his line of sight to the Lepus constellation, now glowing proudly, over his window. He could try to move out on his own. 

Even as the thought formed, he shook his head. No job, barely meeting the graduation requirements in school, parents that could track him, if not by phone, then by ectosignature. No, moving out was not within his capabilities right now. 

Unless…

The hand in his vision curled into a fist, and he sat up on his bed. 

Unless he were to move into the Ghost Zone.

A different feeling began twisting in his gut, chasing away the bubbling tar from before. He could just leave. He could go be a ghost in the Ghost Zone. Hell, he could be a  _ human _ in the Ghost Zone. It wasn't like the other ghosts didn’t know about that side of him. 

His legs swung over the edge of the bed, and he stood with a purpose he had been lacking these past days. He could go. 

He could  _ be.  _

And there was no greater feeling than that. 

  
  
  



End file.
